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Half stall at highway speeds?


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Well after the engine goes in, I'm going to be calling Chevy again to see what they can do about putting some type of extension on the warranty not only for all the trouble I had but for the new engin

It is most likely the same engine, but modified to avoid the problems that created the original problem. I would venture to guess that your car was developing the #4 cylinder anomaly, and was most lik

FYI - My Spark LS 5M has 20K miles and went in to the Dealership with the problem described above. I was burning about a quart of oil every 125 miles @ 65 MPH. They are ordering me a new Engine assemb

UPDATE: So i brought it in a couple mornings ago and described the problem while also mentioning this thread from other Spark drivers. They basically told me that I didnt know what I was talking about because if it was an issue this serious it would throw an engine code. So we took her on a nice 30 mile test drive and of course no issues presented themselves while the tech was driving. They sent me on my merry way and told me to keep an eye on it. After taking a few deliveries (I'm a pizza dude), it started giving me problems again and was knocking worse than ever. I left work and took it straight to them. Long story short, they realized that it was burning oil and are replacing the seals and probably plug number 4 -_-

I'm going to be printing this off when I go pick my car up and I'm telling them I'm bringing this thing back in a couple hundred miles and if it's still burning oil I want a new engine.

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Yeah I will never understand how a engine with no oil could NOT throw a code. It's nuts, sounds like I'm at the beginning of a really long road since my cars doing this now. Still waiting on a response from my dealer. Getting a completely new engine will probably take forever. Took 3 weeks to get a Valve Cover Gasket from South Korea for me. An engine from South Korea would probably take 2 months. Unless GM has got smart enough to actually have parts here in the US for them.

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Update: my engine is apparently in Alaska....the polar opposite of florida.

For those just gettingt eh issue I was going through a quart every thousand miles so it was never low enough to throw the light. They replaced my gaskets and seals and it did nothing and the problem was still there. Went through half a quart in 200 miles.

The problem replicates after the engine has been used for a period of time. It needs to have oil build up around plug four to cause it to present the issue. If you pull plug four and it looks horrible and caked up then you're having the issue. The nice thing is I'm in a rental and keeping a ton of miles off my car. They did replace my plugs gaskets and the problems were still there. Jump through the hoops the first time and then call chevy customer service and flip a lid. That's how I got my engine approved, and got entertaining looks from the mechanics as I went off lol

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Well guys, here's another update on Silvia:

I got it back 4 days ago now. The first thing I checked after getting her was the oil level. It was topped off and the information center said oil life was 73%

In those 4 days I've driven somewhere between three and four hundred miles, half of which have been on the freeway doing speeds of 60-80. I checked the oil at the end of today and it appears to have burned through about a quart of oil already. The level on the dipstick only came to the second dot. My plan is to beat on it a little more and take it back to the dealer in hopes of getting the new engine I deserve.

I love my Spark. It was my first new car, I was able to get it entirely on my own, and I planned on making it a fun little daily driver. But so far it just hasn't been reliable and it feels like I really got the short end of the stick. I've already taken my car in 3 times for repairs/issues and I've only had it since November.

I'm just going to keep wishing for the best. I still love the car and don't want to have to get rid of it. So let's hope they'll replace this engine without too much hassle so I can finally try to enjoy my car. I also wish the best of luck to anyone who has to go through this. Hopefully GM will notice this eventually, and hopefully the dealers everybody is getting their Spark's from will start learning about the car. Because I know my service writer told me I had the first Spark he'd seen in there.

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When you broke the engine in, did you drive it like the manual suggests or did you run it a bit harder like many people suggest? On a few other forums, there is some proof that if you break it in slowly like most manuals suggest, the engine will consume oil.

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That's what I'm trying to figure out. I was gentle for a bit, and made sure to run in fourth and fifth where I could to vary the speed. After a few hundred I was much harder, did a few low gear low rpm pulls up to a good speed, let it coast down, did it again, etc. After about the fourth pull I went up to a bit above 6000 and decided I was done. So far so good, but I only have 22500 on it. I also changed the oil/filter at around 2000 the first time to clean it out.

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Update: My Engine assembly was replaced. This is a complete assembly including the intake manifold and fuel system. There was no hassle from the Dealership or GM. I was given a car to drive and got my car back in three working days. The compression test showed a loss of compression from 40%-60% across the cylinders. The production date of my Spark is 9/2012.

If this engine holds up thru the 100k mile warranty I will be a very happy customer. Also, in the future I will only have the dealership change the oil and they will monitor the engine wear.

Side note: The dealership was instructed to ship my engine the to GM proving ground for examination. I think there was a third party supplier involved in this mishap.

GM and my Dealership took care of me. I hope you all get the same treatment.

Happy Motoring

Hardwareman

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Engine Break in - Here's an interesting article. http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/saturday-mechanic-blog/how-to-break-in-a-new-car

I asked the Service Manager at my Dealership. He told me to follow the owners manual instructions. Also, he recommended first oil change at 1000 miles.

I plan to have the future changes done by the dealership. I want a good maintenance record on the books in case there's anymore problems.

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Unless mine gets worse, I'll drive to the crusher, so trade in is not worth my consideration. But fighting about warranty is worth it.

Yea I had to call chevy today about the Cheney dealership here in Florida. They refused to look at my sparks AC as recommended by my normal dealership stating: "you got your warranty work done there, take it back to them" I was so mad I could have shot fire from my eyeballs! It's a Chevy and a Chevy dealership refusing to work on it under warranty...the audacity

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When driving consistently for 20+ miles then slow down:

What happens is the car shudders a little bit (ticks, ta-tick, clicks a few times, sometimes once, sometimes up to 6 clicks/ticks) loses power even though we apply the accelerator and seems to stall when we slow down

Also noticing for the last 3 months an unusual rapid decrease in oil level.

Pulled spark plugs from Chevy Spark (~40000miles)

From left to right. 1,2,3,4.

1. Has no residue, gap of 33/1000

2. Has no residue, gap of 33/1000

3. Has some residue on ground, build up on electrode, gap of 31/1000

4. Has a lot of residue on ground, a lot of build up on electrode, gap of 31/1000

Oil at 25% but dashboard says 95%

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I think I can explain why it loses so much power when this happens... When the engine sucks the oil in, it shows very rich on the O2 sensor, so it leans the fuel, and of course trying to burn the oil which doesn't really burn decreases the power. Kind of surprised the computer doesn't throw an O2 sensor error when the air volume and fuel volume don't match the O2 reading. I really am starting to think they programmed this car so it won't throw codes, any time you can feel the power slip off, there should be a big mismatch between exhaust sensors and input sensors. I think they need to work on this with a software upgrade and recall to have the software installed.

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I have about 16k miles on mine, and I have had burning oil smells off and on, at first I though maybe I was imagining it, but i am definitely not. I dont have harsh symptoms like the rest describe at 25+k miles, but now I am worried that mine is on the same path as the rest. I have so far lost 1/2 quart of oil in roughly 2k miles. I am also loosing coolant somewhere. I think I will be taking it to the dealership soon. I have a vacation planned for next week, but will take it in after that.maybe while it is in they can work on my A/C again, as it still doesnt work right. This is becoming a pretty big disappointment. I love the car, but cannot stand all the time it spends in the shop.

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